rthstewart | Three Sentence Ficathon -- Part 2

EDIT AS OF 2 FEBRUARY 2019 -- THE 3 SENTENCE FICATHON IS OVER! Go ahead and read and fill anything that catches your eye and comment on fills but I'm not checking it anymore and most people have moved on so any new prompts aren't likely to get much love.

We are nearing the point that the first 3SF post, which went live on 12 December, is nearing 4,600 comments. At 5,000 comments, Dreamwidth starts demanding captcha to assure you aren't a spammer bot. It's a pain and unpleasant but totally understandable. So, I'm opening a new post, for new prompts, new fills, new comments!

What does this mean?
The original 3SF post is here, so be sure to check it out, fill anything that catches your eye, and comment on anything that delights you. But don't post any new prompts there. All new prompts go here.

How long will we do this?
I will officially close the 3SF on January 31.

Does that mean you'll close this and no one can post?
Nope. It just means that we will all move on in our lives until next year and my inbox will get a vacation to Hawaii.

Remind me again, what's the 3SF?
This is a challenge where you answer a prompt with a fic consisting of only three sentences. It's open to all fandoms and you can post and answer as many prompts as you like, as many times as you want.

What's a prompt? How do I do that?
You can start 3SF by posting prompts! When posting a prompt please format it this way:

fandom, character(s), prompt word/sentence.

Only one prompt per comment please. So, for example,

Star Wars, Obi-Wan Kenobi, I don't like sand."

Open ended and anthropomorphic fills are popular too, such as:

Any, Any, "I don't like sand."

or

Earth geography, sand, "I don't like humans very much, either."

What else?
You answer other posters' prompts in three sentences (or more if you can't stop yourself) and fill as many prompts as you want, as many times as you wish. If you see that a prompt you loved has already been filled, go ahead and fill it again! Multiple fills of the same prompt are allowed and even encouraged! (We get really fun stories going this way).

Can I still post if I need more than 3 sentences? Or should I just abuse grammar in ways the English language never contemplated?
Yes. Yes.

But I'm not a member of Dreamwidth
No problem. You can comment anonymously or through open ID

Can anyone play?
Yes! Please signal boost this to your flist, followers, and any other places you frequent. Come one, come all!
The more people who come and play, the better!

Can I spread the word?
Yes, please. Banners and icons are below.

How long will it go?
We'll officially close on January 31, 2019 but I don't close the entry to comments.

Are there any rules about cross-posting?
Nope, you can post wherever you want, whenever you want. A lot of folks collected their responses together and posted them on AO3 under the 3 sentence fiction tag. 3SFs are a terrific prompt for remixes and could be helpful for Yuletide bears, too.

What about spoilers, content warnings, triggers, pairings, ratings, tags, and squick?
So far, as near as I can tell (and I skim most entries especially from newcomers I don't recognize) we've not had any issues. As in the past, this is too big, moves too fast, and the stories are too short for content warnings and ratings. You should assume spoilers are fair game and that the initial poster and responder have opted to use no content warnings or tags. I've found personally that I can skim by stuff that, from the prompt, I can tell isn't my favorite flavor of delicious cake. As a reader, use your best judgment and be prepared to skip over things that aren't your thing.

I have noticed that some people have posted content warnings in the first lines of their fill or in the subject line. But still, it's readers beware here. Not everyone does this and no one is under any obligation to do so.

Wow, there are so many cool people here. Can I introduce myself?
Yes, in the Friending meme.

Here, have some banners, embed codes and icons courtesy of

st_aurafina and

metonomia

And can you believe I figure out how to make boxes so you can copy and paste this to plug the exchange elsewhere? I DID!

Icons:

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

any, any, So if I only could / I'd make a deal with God / And I'd get him to swap our places

If you could, you'd make a deal with Mihir -- keep the light of the sun, you'd say, and give me to darkness, let me swap lives with shadowed strangers who bear stories and scintillack across the zee, let me be accursed, let me be apostate, let me be anything I am not, and free me from the tyranny of truth!

But Mihir doesn't see down here. So: you make another deal instead.

Oooh, this is intriguing. I love 'and free me from the tyranny of truth!' and the tone that's a shade less sad than melancholy? I don't know if that makes sense, but it's the vibe I get from the Youth here.

thank you! i don't know if you know sunless sea, but that prompt hit me hard and i had to write something, and the dial landed on jewel turbaned youth. i don't know if i could put that sadness in words, either, but it's definitely something i was trying to strike.

(here's a tangent from another fandom i don't know if you know: there's a repeated line in the second season of utena, 'i suppose you have no choice but to revolutionize the world.' there's a sadness in that line, i think, that's a similar shade.)

i don't know sunless sea, but i used to play a bit of fallen london and this definitely feels like it's from the same world, or an adjacent world! i'm very glad the prompt hit you in a way that gave me this aching plea unable to be spoken.

(i'm vaguely aware of utena, mostly through your tumblr reblogs, but it seems like it would be right up my alley, especially with that line. (and if you like that line and its importance, just wait til you get to the marielda season of FatT))

Oh, this is excellent, melancholy and just slightly sinister at the end, and I love both the rhythm of let me be accursed, let me be apostate and the way it captures his conflicted yearning for the world outside. Lovely!

Thank you! And thank you again for writing your lovely Varchas fic, you enabled me. :D

“Do you expect to hold the Inquisitor’s favor forever, darling, or just before the patience of world for your charming elven eccentricities run dry?” Vivienne inquires; not quite out of the blue – Solas has proven surprisingly adept at understanding the rhythm of her verbal sparring – but it is out of earshot: discretion is crucial in these muted power struggles, when Vivienne and Solas battle over influence over the Inquisition rather than over worldviews, and that, too, Solas understands.

“Do you mean her attention, because she is young and you hold out hope she will be easy to lead – or lead away, as the case would be,” Solas replies, wry fold to his lips, and Vivienne refrains from rolling her eyes too obviously – she rather suspects he is of an age with her, and he would not be the first man to fall for a younger woman, think their pairing different, unique, and not foresee its inevitable crumbling when the two parties realize how ill-matched they are; “and once she’s grown more at ease with her role in your Chantry, once she no longer needs reassurance in the form of a fellow elf, you intend on using her remarkable open-mindedness to carve yourself my place by her ear – or do you mean her heart?”

He pauses, chuckles; “or do you still resent her for being at the right time in the right place to find herself styled as the Herald, and are targeting me because you believe I wouldn’t understand the bitterness of your spurned ambitions?”

David has wished before, multiple times, that he could take away Jack’s pain or give him a better life, better than their current living in a small secluded house in a middle of nowhere town with a handful of other people and little physical contact with the outside world, especially for Jack who was supposedly dead, but there aren’t many times he’s wished it more than now.
He’s sitting outside Jack’s room, next to the door because Jack had had a horrible screaming nightmare that seemed like it had gone right into a flashback, at least by the time David had gotten there, and to make things worse, Jack’s brain had told him that David wasn’t David, that he was someone else involved in what had happened to Jack when he was in prison, and anything he tried to do to help Jack wouldn’t work.
One of the many downsides to being in hiding was that there wasn’t anyone David could turn to who might be able to help Jack right now, no family and no one who Jack would be comfortable enough with, so David was half sitting guard on Jack’s room and half trying to be near if Jack needed anything and was in a state of mind where he knew who David was.
He really hated not being able to do much, or currently anything, to help Jack, who was so proud, through his trauma and his whole world basically finishing falling apart and was almost at the point of trying to ask God to help Jack, or to switch Jack and David’s places, but that might mess up the wider world more, but at least Jack would have a good family and a decent life, but he didn’t think God would listen, so he’d keep it just in his head.

Oh, this is painful, that ending line especially. Thank you!

You are very welcome!

Merlin scrubbed at his face, trying to control the tears, and keened when Arthur choked on the words to scold him for being a mess. He pressed his hands helplessly to the gushing blood around the blade transfixing Arthur and wished desperately he could fix it, that there was any way he could fix it, that he could take the wound himself, anything to. . .

Emrys, it is time, a feathery voice murmured, and Merlin startled, eyes shimmering with power but hands refusing to leave Arthur's body, we will take him, said the last priestesses of Avalon, and Merlin crumpled, clinging weakly to Arthur, now half-unconsious, as they pulled him away, until it is time.

Three Sentence Ficathon -- Part 2

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Sunless Sea, the Jewel Turbaned Youth

Re: Sunless Sea, the Jewel Turbaned Youth

Re: Sunless Sea, the Jewel Turbaned Youth

Re: Sunless Sea, the Jewel Turbaned Youth

Re: Sunless Sea, the Jewel Turbaned Youth

Re: Sunless Sea, the Jewel Turbaned Youth

Fill: Dragon Age, Vivienne+Solas

Kings (TV), David Shepherd

Re: Kings (TV), David Shepherd

Re: Kings (TV), David Shepherd

Avalon's Shore (Merlin (BBC)-ish)